Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Monday, June 18, 2007

Monday, Monday!

Taguba was met at the door of the conference room by an old friend, Lieutenant General Bantz J. Craddock, who was Rumsfeld’s senior military assistant. Craddock’s daughter had been a babysitter for Taguba’s two children when the officers served together years earlier at Fort Stewart, Georgia. But that afternoon, Taguba recalled, “Craddock just said, very coldly, ‘Wait here.’ ” In a series of interviews early this year, the first he has given, Taguba told me that he understood when he began the inquiry that it could damage his career; early on, a senior general in Iraq had pointed out to him that the abused detainees were “only Iraqis.” Even so, he was not prepared for the greeting he received when he was finally ushered in.

“Here . . . comes . . . that famous General Taguba—of the Taguba report!” Rumsfeld declared, in a mocking voice. The meeting was attended by Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld’s deputy; Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J.C.S.); and General Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, along with Craddock and other officials. Taguba, describing the moment nearly three years later, said, sadly, “I thought they wanted to know. I assumed they wanted to know. I was ignorant of the setting.”

In the meeting, the officials professed ignorance about Abu Ghraib. “Could you tell us what happened?” Wolfowitz asked. Someone else asked, “Is it abuse or torture?” At that point, Taguba recalled, “I described a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum, and said, ‘That’s not abuse. That’s torture.’ There was quiet.”

There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials. In a deposition, Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, testified that many of the White House officials for whom the RNC has no e-mail records were regular users of their RNC e-mail accounts. Although the RNC has preserved no e-mail records for Ken Mehlman, the former Director of Political Affairs, Ms. Ralston testified that Mr. Mehlman used his account “frequently, daily.” In addition, there are major gaps in the e-mail records of the 37 White House officials for whom the RNC did preserve e-mails. The RNC has preserved only 130 e-mails sent to Mr. Rove during President Bush’s first term and no e-mails sent by Mr. Rove prior to November 2003. For many other White House officials, the RNC has no e-mails from before the fall of 2006.

Five years ago, Chinese drugmakers exported about $300 million worth of products to the United States. Eager to meet Americans' demand for lower-cost medicines, they, too, have expanded rapidly. Last year, they sold more than $675 million in pharmaceutical ingredients and products in the U.S. market.

After the pet food scandal that triggered fears over the safety of human and animal foods imported from China, experts say medicines from that country and from India pose a similar risk of being contaminated, counterfeit or simply understrength and ineffective.

"As the manufacturing goes to China and India, the risk to human health is growing exponentially," said Brant Zell, past chairman of the Bulk Pharmaceuticals Task Force. The group represents American drug-ingredient makers that filed a citizen's petition with the FDA last year asking the agency to oversee foreign firms more aggressively.

"The low level there" of follow-up inspections, "combined with the huge amount of importing, greatly increases the potential that consumers will get products that have impurities or ineffective ingredients," he said.

Where is the outrage from Americans? We are living in a very sick country. Diane Rehm had a great guest on today who wrote a book about the contractors in Iraq. Our soldiers, our people, and the Iraqis are being screwed royally by these contract companies. The guest's website is www.followthemoneyproject.org.

Regarding the WaPo piece Den posted about possible tainted pharmaceuticals from China and India: So, Americans are not supposed to buy their 'scrips in Canada because the drugs might be BAD! But, the FDA turns the other cheek when it comes to importing drugs from China and India?

F.U.B.A.R. is an understatement.

Gerald, many Americans have been outraged for over 6 years with this interminable bush administration. The world is sick of bush and his boyfriends! The world despises bush (well, except Albanians).

But, alas, I'm afraid that people are just throwing up their hands in disgust and saying, "to hell with it."

Micki, I have this feeling that Hitler Bush and the Project for the New American Century would like to kill off 6 billion people on our planet. But, we must never forget that Hitler Bush is pro-life. I know that my religious clerics believe that he is pro-life. Talking pro-life is cheap! We must look at the person's deeds.

If Carol is talking about Den's links, they come on for me. I will link the Duluth Daily Tribune in the winter to see how cold it is in Duluth so I won't feel so bad in southern Michigan in the winter time.

In Bush’s world of No Respect, there is evil in the jungle indeed. The evil is the slow spreading gas of fear let out by Bush which poisons rational thinking, gnaws at civilized, rational thinking and opens up the floodgates of reactive emotions to any sort of rational thinking. It is the gas of fear let out by Bush and the Bush people which plants hatred, divisions, and exalts the supremacy of only a few. It is the gas of fear which plants bitterness and hopelessness in entire populations and fractions them into submission.

GOOD GRIEF! After trying again, even bringing up Internet Explorer I realized the videos were working all along. I didn't know they popped up above your post, Den! All I had to do was scroll up to see them. Good thing I did that accidently. Phew. (now I feel like an idiot)

although I don't understand how to get into the archieves for the older articles on biochar sequestration.

Examples: Both Europeans and the Chinese contract with Africans to build pyrolysis units to make biochar. The African farmers use it to improve their soil and also receive $$ for doing so. The sponsor gets carbon offset credits this way.

What is it about Bush & Company that makes both George and his corporate cronies so hamhanded about ethics?

Take Bush's recent attempt to shove Michael Baroody into the charimanship of the Consumer Products Safety Commission. This watchdog agency is supposed to protect the public from manufacturers who make shoddy products that harm or kill people. So – is Baroody a noted consumer advocate?

Hardly! He's the top lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers! Yes, he represents the very makers of the dangerous and deadly products the agency is supposed to guard against. With this appointment, Bush was not merely putting the fox in the henhouse – he was trying to deliver the hens directly to the fox's den!

To make this obvious conflict of interest even stinkier, the NAM came up with an under-the-table scheme to subsidize Baroody's salary at the consumer agency, promising to hand him a forget-me-not of $150,000. The Bushites knew about this payment – yet saw nothing even slightly unethical about it.

Luckily, senators did. When it became clear that Baroody would not be confirmed, he withdrew his name. Did Bush & Company finally see the light? Of course not! The White House responded with a snippy attack on the critics of this insulting appointment, saying that senators had "rushed to judgment." Well, thank goodness they did – someone needed to show some good judgment. Meanwhile, the head of the NAM had a little hissy fit, whining loudly that there and been an "unprincipled smear campaign waged against Mike."

The reason Bush and buddies are so clueless is that they are eaten up with corporate arrogance and avarice. They possess a stunning sense of entitlement, leading them to treat our government as their private plaything. What they need is to have a good kindergarten teacher assigned to refresh each of them on the basics of playground ethics.

"Bush Pick Gets Extra Payment From Old Job," New York Times, May 16, 2007"Candidate for Safety Agency Withdraws Amid Criticism," New York Times, May 24, 2007

(Gotta love hypocrites for their audacity at actually being hypocrites! Ha!)

BuzzFlash Hypocrite of the week

So Many Republican Hypocrites, So Little Time

June 8, 2007

Robert Bork

Welcome back to the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Robert Bork has made a living out of being the bilious, hateful symbol of right wing jurists. Since he was "Borked" and denied a seat on the Supreme Court in 1987, the former Nixon hit man has become even more embittered.

According to Wikipedia, "Bork served as acting Attorney General of the United States from 1973 to 1974. As acting Attorney General, he is known for carrying out U.S. President Richard Nixon's order to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox following Cox's request for tapes of Oval Office conversations. The firing incident is known as the "Saturday Night Massacre." Nixon's Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Richardson's Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus, resigned rather than carry out the order. Bork, next in line after Richardson and Ruckelshaus, became acting head of the Justice Department, and Nixon reiterated his order to fire Cox. Bork complied with Nixon's order and fired Cox. He subsequently resumed his duties as Solicitor General."

Wow, what a pedigree! And at the favored right wing "think tank" of Cheney and Bush -- the American Enterprise Institute -- Bork championed such favorite GOP goals as "tort reform" in the ongoing Republican effort to please corporations by limiting the right to sue for injuries and damages.

So it came as a bit of a hypocritical surprise that Bork recently sued the Yale Club of New York for $1 million. What was the basis of the suit?

You guessed it. Bork is asking for damages on the basis of claiming he suffered a disabling injury due to the negligence of the Yale Club. According to Wikipedia, "On June 6, 2007, Bork filed suit in federal court in New York City against the Yale Club over an incident that had occurred a year earlier. Bork alleged that, while trying to reach the dais to speak at an event, he fell, because of the Yale Club's failure to provide any steps or handrail between the floor and the dais. According to the complaint, Bork's injuries required surgery, immobilized him for months, forced him to use a cane, and left him with a limp. Ted Frank, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who, like Bork, has been a proponent of 'tort reform' measures to restrict plaintiffs' rights, criticized the suit as 'embarrassingly silly.'"

Silly indeed, and worthy of naming the prickly Bork as the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Until next week, remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

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About Me

DWF is dedicated to intelligence and the support of truth wherever it might be found. Coffee in the corner, donuts on the side. Notice: No neo-nazis, reich wingers, devil worshippers or other types of morons allowed.